A comparative study of patient safety in the intensive care units.
Foroozan Atashzadeh-Shoorideh, Azam Shirinabadi Farahani, Amir Hosein Pishgooie and 5 others
PMID 35633148WHAT IT FOUND
Overall ICU safety scores did not differ between two hospitals, but adult ICUs had lower observed communication scores during patient transfer than paediatric ICUs.
Key findings
01Total mean patient safety scores did not differ significantly between the two university-affiliated hospitals (p = .15).
02Paediatric ICUs had a significantly higher mean score for effective communication during patient transfer than adult ICUs (18.50 ± 2.08 vs 16.13 ± 1.8; p = .04).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study observed nursing practice, not patient outcomes, so it cannot show that any safety dimension caused harm or that fixing it would reduce adverse events. Only two university-affiliated hospitals in Tehran were examined, so findings may not apply to other ICUs. Two fixed observers completed the checklists, and the authors note their presence may have changed nurses' behaviour. The study did not measure nurse experience, workload, staffing, education, reported errors, shift patterns or organisational factors, so differences between units cannot be explained. The checklist was researcher-made, although content validity and inter-rater agreement were reported.
Declared interests
No conflict of interest was declared. The study was funded by Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that adult ICU patients are unsafe or that handover communication caused harm. The study compared observed safety scores, not patient outcomes, and did not test an intervention.